1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to physical activity in the form of walking or running which reduces the physical stress of raising the legs and maintaining proper posture.
2. Prior Art
Raising the legs during exercising in the form of running or walking over an extended period of time will cause fatigue. During sustained or long distance or long duration of physical activity the physical fatigue becomes excessive to the point that the legs feel very heavy. This excessive fatigue will slow a person""s physical motion of the legs. This slow down creates slower running or walking. As the fatigue continues to slow down the body the need for more energy during the end of physical exercise increases to maintain a higher performance.
During excessive workouts involving running, walking, or physical activity, poor posture occurs due to stress and decrease of energy. Poor posture refers to not maintaining a back-straight and head-up position. Poor posture refers to bending or leaning over at the waist and lowering of the head during excessive physical activity. The result of poor posture is a decrease of performance due to an increase of stress on the back and the neck.
Examples of prior art found for running shorts are listed below. The prior art does not solve the problem of the legs being heavy causing the runner or walker to slow down. The prior art does not address the problem of poor posture during exercise.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,161,222 Strickland et.al. is an Athletic Garment with Inner Thigh Guards. This prior art does not help with raising the legs or posture.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,243,880 Lyden is Athletic Shorts. These shorts are very basic to a runner for unrestricted breathing and extension of the legs. These shorts do not help the runner lift the legs in any way or help with poor posture.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,598,586 Munjone is Athletic Shorts with inner and outer layers. These shorts have an inner and outer layer for protection. These shorts do not help the runner lift the legs or maintain proper posture.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,033,117 Fairweather is Exercise Garment. This exercise garment has pockets used for a weight, which would provide resistance to raising the leg. This is the opposite of helping to raise the legs. This device would not help a runner to maintain proper posture.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,856 Fox, III is Exercise Garment. This garment has placement of weights to provide resistance during exercise. This is the opposite of helping to raise the legs during running or walking. This device does not help to maintain proper posture.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,254 Dicker is Resistive Exercise Pants and Hand Stirrups. This garment uses bands to resist movement. This is the opposite of helping to raise the legs. These bands do not help to raise the leg during running and does not provide help with maintaining proper posture.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,252,112 Joyce is Strap Device for Assisting in Hip, Knee and Foot Movement. This would be the same concept except that the lower half of the device is not needed for a runner who is not paralyzed. This device does not help maintain proper posture.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,256,119 Tudor is Leg Extension Exercise Device. This device is worn on the back of the leg to keep from hyper-extending the leg at the knee. This device has a different purpose and, therefore, would not aid in raising the leg.
None of the prior art examples support helping with extensive physical activity. The prior art examples found tend to do the opposite. U.S. Pat. No. 5,727.254, 4,953,856 and 5,033,117 all use weights or bands to provide resistance to raising the legs. The patents used for athletic shorts do nothing to provide help in lifting the leg for running. Therefore, we found no prior art for this device to help lift the leg and provide help with maintaining proper posture.
It is therefore, the object of this invention to provide athletic shorts that will increase physical performance over extensive workout time periods.
Athletic Shorts according to this invention will help support raising the legs and maintaining a persons posture throughout the workout period. This support will improve the performance when gauging time over a fixed distance. This performance will decrease time over distance by allowing the person to maintain a constant leg speed of movement.
To improve the performance by maintaining a sustained leg stride, support needs to be given to help raise the legs. This support of raising the legs being one of the objects of this invention is through the use of elastic straps.
Two independent elastic straps starting at the middle of the back extend in opposite directions around the waist secured through belt loops. The elastic strap proceeds downward at the front and middle portion of the leg. As both independent straps travel down the leg to the bottom of a tight fitted running shorts they proceed around the leg above the knee. Then both independent straps returning back up the legs to the same point of where they started being the middle of the back.
The elastic strap that runs around the legs that is above the knee is fitted into a conduit that is sewn on to the lower potion of the tight fitted running shorts. The elastic strap is threaded inside the conduit as it goes around the leg above the knee holding the elastic strap in a fixed position. The elastic ends in the middle of the back are connected to a male and female parts of a buckle. The elastic straps are elongated and the buckles are adjusted such that when the buckles are snapped together a pulling force is felt at the bottom of the tight fitted running shorts above the knee. This pulling force is at the extreme when standing in an upright position. When the leg is raised this pulling force adds to the support of the effort needed to raise the leg. As the leg is lowered the process is repeated. This pulling force supporting the upward movement of the leg is one of the objects of this invention.
The next object of this invention is the support of a persons posture during excessive physical activity. The correct posture for walking or running is to maintain a straight back and a head up position. For runners, it is also recommended that the hips be projected slightly forward. The benefit of projecting the hips in a forward position is less effort to raise the leg. The elastic straps that travel around the sides and back of the waist when in an elongated position exerts a forward force of the waistline. This forward force keeps the hips projected slightly forward in the preferred position. The hips in a forward position forces straight posture of the back and head. The overall alignment of the hips, back, and head due to the force of the elongated straps keeps a runner or walker in an efficient posture, which reduces stress during extensive physical activities.
The forces on both ends of the elongated elastic straps define the two objects of this invention. One force supports the lift of the leg and the other force supports the posture of a runner or walker. The combination of these two forces benefits the runner or walker by maintaining a sustained leg stride and supporting a straight back and head posture during the physical activity.